


What's Needed or Apple Wallpaper is Fine as Long as it's Home

by NathanieloftheSky



Category: Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: I like long titles, M/M, Modern AU, There is a child, also fighting at the begining, nothing against apple wallpaper though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:32:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14814912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NathanieloftheSky/pseuds/NathanieloftheSky
Summary: July was when everything changed, but Mercutio still couldn't cope with finding out who truly cared about him. Only problem was, for months, he pushed everyone away who tried to help him and began to act out again. It was time he let himself be happy again. It was time to break the rules again.Sometimes it takes apple wallpaper and a child to find out what's needed.





	What's Needed or Apple Wallpaper is Fine as Long as it's Home

Mercutio wasn't sorry. Blood dripped from his nose and fist as he stared down the scrawny kid in front of him who cowared on the ground. Slowly, he lowered his fist. The kid was a year younger than him, perhaps, and lost the cocky smile his was sporting. 

“Say it.” Mercutio snarled, pretending the crowd around them was just his shadows, but he couldn't shake the feeling of a familiar image staring at him from behind. 

“Fuck you.” The line was drawn.

He knelt down and grabbed a fistfull of the kid’s shirt, “You better run if you see me again, because I'm not gonna hold back, babe,” and pulled the kid to hid feet.  A stranger slowly inched into the circle and grabbed the kid’s arm with one hand and his backpack in the other. Mercutio stood there, glaring at the figures retreating to their classes. 

“Are you going to talk to me?” 

Mercutio’s chest  tightened. He shut his eyes hard and  felt all the tension return to his body. 

“Hey?” The voice was charismatic, like a bowl of soup on a cold day or a pool  on a hot one, tempting. Still, he didn't respond and couldn't bring himself to look into the eyes of Benvolio Montague, the boy he betrayed to pride and foolish games. He didn't deserve him. 

“Mercutio? Please? It's been months and people are starting to tell me to give up and get over you.” 

Mercutio jumped a bit, feeling a cold hand on the side of his face, now hot to the touch, hands that have not touched him in so long out of fear. Fear of what? Hurting the other person. Whose fear? Mercutio became doubtful as time went on. Now time has lead them to the end of it all. The finish line or perhaps the start of a new race. He almost melted, but that fear held him up as the flagpole for the lost and weary. He opened his eyes in spite of himself. 

“I almost lost you once, I'm not gonna lose you again. You don't need to tell me everything, just let me in where you are able. You know I won't pry or push you, but I can't bare seeing you act out like you used to. I want to be there for you again. If not a lover than a friend.”

“Fuck, I can't do this anymore.” Mercutio caved and found himself  gripping the side of Benvolio’s shirt in a sort of quasi-hug. “ I can't fucking do this anymore. I want it all to go away—school, thw pity, the jeers, the adults hounding down my neck. They fear me going out but they are saddened by me staying in. I can't  feel anything anymore but the emptiness that came from the absence of people caring for me. Everything I believed in died that day, all the love and hate gone. No one actually cared and it all came out at the drop of a hat or should I say your fucking cousin. I don't blame him as much as I did  but…I just…I don't want to hurt you again. I don't.”

Benvolio stayed silent, pulling Mercutio into an actual embrace and just let Mercutio cry. It was no lie that, aside from his uncle who left early for damage control, his brother, and his cousin, those who clung to Mercutio’s dramatic flamboyance and unmatched wit did not  come to visit the dying boy.their hearts and minds moved with the current of the present and they found greater cause in mourning the death of a lover than the death of a jester, both fools of a different sort. 

The empty hallway crept into Mercutio’s mind once more and he froze again, wishing he hadn't cried his heart out in such a public place. Benvolio caught on, faster than before and made a suggestion, “How about you come with me to my house and we get a blanket or two, and some tea, and just watch movies or cartoons all day and maybe all this weekend. I'm house sitting until tuesday, so you can get out of the house and away from school and just take all the time you need. How about that?”

Mercutio nodded into Benvolio's neck, thinking farther ahead than he had been for weeks. He would go now, pack his bags when he gets back to his house, and then return to Benvolio. He would return home. 

But the call came too fast, too urgent. 

“Hello?”  Mercutio swallowed. Lucky the teachers left for the day and now administrators cane hunting him down, but word travels fast and his uncle had heard it all. 

“Get your ass home. Now. Before things get  _ worse _ .” Valentine’s voice resounded from the phone. He was doomed. Very, very doomed. Mount Doom had no beef on Mercutio. No, he was going to meet Sauron face to face in the form of Prince Escalus, the most powerful man in Mercutio's world, and his eye was now focused in on Mercutio. 

“I'll be over as soon as I can.” Mercutio replied, hearing the line go dead. 

“Maybe tomorrow.” Benvolio said quietly.

“Maybe…” Mercutio gave a deep breath before heading down the front of the school. He got into his car and drove to his house on the hill. 

“Another fight? How many was that in the last three months? Twelve? Fourteen?” Escalus stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, through the large house itself was just as welcoming. 

“Hello to you too, Uncle.” Mercutio tied to slip by, but his backpack was grabbed by the man in a suit.

“I am talking to you. Is the therapist not working? Am I not there enough? Do I need to get you a babysitter too?”

“I'm a senior in high school. I don't need a babysitter. Besides. I made plans.”

“Consider those plans canceled until you get your act together.”

“I haven't made plans since July, if you've forgotten. I'm sure you have people keeping tabs on me and telling you how I don't have any friends and have been pushing people away. Do you think after everything that's happened, I would make plans with just anyone?” Mercutio snapped, sliding out of his book bag and putting his back to the stairs. “Have you ever stopped to ask or even  _ wonder _ if this is what I wanted? To be hounded by stranger and forced out into the open when I don't feel comfortable? You want to know why I lash out now? You're as scared as I am. Stop pretending you know everything and trying to control my life and let me go. Let me try to  _ live _ again.”

“Go to your room.” 

“No, I was going to go to one of the many rooms filled with paperwork and false sympathy. The mask is off, uncle, just like you wanted. No more masks. No more parties. Just my biased opinion and my unwavering sense of self-suffering. Congrats.”

He trudged up the stairs and down yet another hallway in his life, slumping onto his bed the moment if came into view. His phone buzzed beside him, but the feeling of moving on was fading fast. 

“Who were you gonna go out with?” Valentine stood in the doorway, not yet over the threshold. 

“The only person I trust ‘sides you.” Mercutio mumbled. 

“Benvolio? Did he offer? I thought you said he hated you.”

“I lied.” 

“Just like you lied about him visiting you in the hospital?”

“How did you…?”

“He may be your boyfriend and you may have blown him off, but he is still my friend and I'm not an idiot. “ Valentine laughed. 

“I'll convince Uncle to let you go over. Stay over?”

“Stay the weekend.” Mercutio sat up and narrowed his eyes. “What's the catch?” 

“What catch?” 

“You're nice?” 

“You need him as much as he needs you and if you truly think that pretending he's not there is only hurting you, you're stupider than I thought. Pack your bag, bitch, you're leaving. If he says no, I'm sneaking you out myself.”

“You little shit, you are an angel.” 

“Only for you.”  Valentine retreated down the stairs. Mercutio, with the renewed passion of getting the fuck out of his misery, leapt out of bed and dumped everything from his book bag. Every pencil. Every pen. Every binder. Every book. All across the floor. He threw open his closet and dresser, stuffing clothes into his bag without thought. 

When Valentine returned, he looked grim. 

“So?” 

“He thought about it. Longer than normal because I drove a damn good argument and he think Benvolio’s a good kid. He said in a few weeks, but we both know what he meant.”

“Forget about it.” Mercutio sighed. He zipped up his book bag. “So what's your plan. After he goes to bed, you'll sneak out the back door and  head towards the park where Benvolio will meet you and pick you up.”

“He agreed?” 

“He said he's lonely.”  Valentine laughed. “One catch.”

“What?”

“You'll see in the backseat.”

“Telllll meeeeeeeeee!” Mercutio whined, but he was left alone to wait for the dead of night. 

Benvolio, thirty minutes late and counting, arrived in an old pickup truck. “Sorry I'm late. Bit of trouble getting out of the drive.”

“You're still me hero.”  Mercutio opened the door and hopped in, about to throw his bag in the back when Benvolio shouted, throwing his arm out. 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Stop. Child”

“Child.” Mercutio echoed, eyes drifting towards the backseat. There sat a little girl, staring at him with disdain. 

“She got into too much trouble so her parents had me pick her up and take care of her for the rest of the week and then put her with a babysitter on monday and tuesday.”

“Who's this mouth breather?” the little girl asked before giggling. 

“Her parents let her watch anything she wants, so she picked up a few things.” Benvolio turned to the little girl. “Lillian, this is Mercutio. He is going to stay with us for the weekend. Okay?”

“He can stay.”

“Oh good. I am glad I have her approval.” Mercutio rolled his eyes and buckled himself in. 

As Benvolio drive, Mercutio began to feel an overwhelming sense of calm rush over him. Sure, he was risking his uncle’s wrath, but he needed this. He needed something that wasn't a doctor's office or a classroom. He needed fresh air again. 

He didn't notice much when he was in public—tried not to notice much. But here, in the light of the street and passing cars, he could see the bags under Benvolio’s eyes, as if he'd been crying. He noticed the weary look on his face and the focus in his eyes, the small smile that crept on his lips every time he glanced over at Mercutio or the slight opening of his mouth when he looked into the mirror at the sleeping Lillian. 

“You won't get lost, will you?” Mercutio slid back in his seat. 

“No,” Benvolio laughed, the smile growing larger. He felt as though he hadn't seen that look in forever—from anyone really. 

“I don't believe you.” Mercutio crossed his arms and grinned. 

“And if I said you seemed happier, you would deny that too.” Benvolio pulled into the drive of a secluded area: a nice but modest house came into view. 

“Help me get her into the house.”Benvolio handed Mercutio the keys to the house and did his best to pry the sleeping child from the carseat. 

Mercutio jiggled the keys a few times, listening to the metal click together and opened the door. The lights were off and there was no uncle to criticize his behavior. Benvolio shuffled in behind him, holding the little girl in his arms. 

“I'm going to go put her to bed and then make popcorn, go ahead and put your stuff in the room beside hers,” he whispered but then paused. “or if you don't want to share a bed you could—” 

“No, no. I want to share a bed. I want to be with you, even if it means being far away in the same house as you.” Mercutio felt his face grow red in the dark, following Benvolio up the stairs and then back down into the kitchen. 

The area was quaint. Everything was wood,however—the cabinets, the floor, the counters. 

“Do farmers live here?” Mercutio scoffed, observing the apple wallpaper. 

“No, but  I think they have a love of then.” Benvolio handed him a bowl of popcorn, stuffing some of Mercutio’s popcorn in his mouth. 

“Hey.”

“So what do you want to watch?”

“Hmmmmmmm, Scooby-Doo.”

“Okay, follow me.”

Benvolio led him down the stairs  and into an open room with a flat screen TV. They sat their bowls down on the side table and hopped onto the couch.Benvolio tossed Mercutio a blanket before fiddling with the TV fremige or a good five minutes. 

“Fuckin’ finally.” Benvolio laughed as he plopped down on the couch.

“Come closer!” Mercutio smiled, lifting up the blanket for Benvolio to slide under.He rested his head on Benvolio’s chest and felt Benvolio lay his hand on his side. 

“Thank you.”Benvolio sighed.” For this, I mean.”

“I shouldn't have pushed you away in the first place. Maybe that's why it got so bad.”

“Why did you beat up that guy in the hallway today?”

“He, well uh. He was saying shit about how fucked up our families are, yours, mine, the Capulets. That's not why I beat h up though. He was mostly talking shit about you to get to me. He was wrong since I am here now.”

“I'll always he here for you.” Benvolio’s voice reverberated through Mercutio. “I meant it when I said that I loved you. I still love you.” 

“I love you. And I will never forgive myself for what I did.”

“Start forgiving yourself now.” Benvolio rubbed his arm. “Because you have more than a lifetime with me and you don't have to hide when we're together.”

“You're so cheesy.” Mercutio smiled, though his face felt wet. 

The sound of thunder woke Mercutio up. No, that was quite it. It was Benvolio shifting over to comfort Lillian as thunder shook the very foundation of the house. It was a storm that even spooked Benvolio, though he appeared to show no recognition of the lightning cracking outside. 

“Hey, I'm here now. You're safe,” Benvolio whispered, his voice only raisong once he realized Mercutio was awake. “The storm won't hurt you.”

“Can I sleep with you?” Lillian held her stuffed dog close. 

“Of course. We can watch Scooby-Doo together.” Benvolio opened his arms and let the child crawl into his lap. Mercutio tossed part of the blanket overtop and rested his head on Benvolio’s shoulder.

“Did you bring your contacts and your book bag with you?” Mercutio asked. 

“Yeah why?”

“Well, I have an idea on how to keep this child occupied.” 

“Oh really?” 

“Used to do it all the time with Valentine, but then it got popular and he stopped me from making it anymore.”

“Why,” Benvolio asked, slightly distracted from the toy dog bouncing up and down his legs. 

“I was selling it to children at inflated prices.”

“Oh jeez, you're not talking about  _ slime _ are you?” 

“I am, I am.”

“Slime?I like to make slime! I have glitter we can use!” Lillian light up, only cowering back into Benvolio’s arms with the sound of thunder.

“Even better.” Mercutio laughed. 

“This better work.” Benvolio sighed. 

“It will. I promise.” Mercutio leaned over and kissed his cheek. 

Slime did go better than Benvolio thought it would, though the mess was plenty. “It's all sticky!!!” Lillian cried out, giggling as the slime stuck to her fingers and up her arm. 

“Keep kneading it, it will come off and turn into slime soon.” Benvolio took a paper towel and began to pick slime off of  Lillian’s arm and Mercutio’s face. “How you got slime there when I wasn't looking, I will never know. Why are you such a mess?” 

“But I am your mess.”

Benvolio just laughed. 

“Look it's a glove!” Lillian lifted up her arm to reveal the golden slime slowly traveling down her arm and onto the floor. 

“I am your mess. Right?” Mercutio asked, helping to catch the slime as it fell. “We are still dating right?” 

“Yes, Mercutio, we are still dating and you are my mess, but I am  _ not _ gonna clean you up every time.”

“Awwww.”

“Hey Lillian, hold this.” Benvolio gave Lillian a bit of slime and began to pull on it until it was as thin as a bubble. 

“Whooooaaaahhh,”  Lillian gasped. She pressed her hand down in the middle until it broke. Then, grabbed the slime from Benvolio and smashed it all together. “It sounds like a fire!”

“It does doesn't it?” Mercutio smiled he watched as Benvolio threw a rag at him. 

“Help me.” 

“No.” Mercutio began to wipe the table clean again. He looked up. Benvolio was gently helping the child get clean as she rattled off app the tg8bgs she liked and questions she already knew the answer to. 

“Hey, Benvolio?” Mercutio called out as the child ran upstairs to wash her hands. 

“Yeah?” 

“I want this to never change.”

“Huh?”

“this moment, falling asleep to the TV, waking up to a storm, making slime:all  of it. “

Benvolio looked taken aback and then laughed, his face growing red. 

“You need to propose first, dummy.”

“Didn't I when we were in middle school? We had an emo wedding and everything!”

“Oh dear lord, I was trying to forget that.”

Mercutio wrapped his arms around Benvolio's neck and lightly pecked his lips. “Didn't we slow dance to Evanescence or something?”

“Stooooop.” Benvolio hid his face in Mercutio's neck. “Marry me two years after college.”

“Why two?”

“Two is a good number. We  _ technically  _ just got back together. I don't think we should rush into this.”

“Awwww,but I wuv you. Rawr XD.”

“And that,” Benvolio burst out laughing in his own private embarrassment, “is exactly why.”

“You're going to marry me?” 

“Idiot, of course. I don't want anything else, but do you really want everything to stay the same as it is now.”

“What? A small home? A beautiful, handsome husband? Maybe a kid? Of course. All of it.”

“Even the wallpaper?” Benvolio lifted his head. 

“Horrible wallpaper and all.” Mercutio replied, leaning into a deep kiss.And another. And another. 

“Can I have some juice?” Lillian asked from the entrance to the kitchen. 

“Of course.” Benvolio laughed and gave one last kiss before letting go, leaving Mercutio with one big stupid grin on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't been able to write as much or what I want with my little cousin under my care, so here is what I was able to put together today and yesterday. I had to write in a fancy font because she can read now, so please excuse any errors.  
> I forgot what else I wanted to say...
> 
> Also i just now realized that this kinda sounds like you gotta have a kid to make a relationship work but it doesnt. At all. Don't fall for that. I'm just putting it out there that that was not my intention and the kid was more of an option for the future that they don't need but might want. Probably. Overthinking this.


End file.
